Prestige and passion associated with events not lost on golf stars

Graham DeLaet has added incentive when he tees it up at the Canadian Open this week. He is bidding for a spot in next week’s Bridgestone Invitational, a World Golf Championships event. (Michael Peake/Toronto Sun)

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Graeme McDowell won $1.35 million for his efforts at Pebble Beach three years ago, where his career was considerably enhanced by a U.S. Open victory. But in a cynical era, he says all is not financial when playing a national championship such as the one starting at Glen Abbey.

“I think you’re just actually aware of kind of the prestige of this event, kind of hearing whispers of how this event used to be viewed back in the ’70s and ’80s,” said McDowell as he put the finishing touches on preparations for the RBC Canadian Open.

“I heard guys say this was viewed as a fifth major by the guys back in the day. It’s amazing,” said McDowell, adding that he’s never met more of his countrymen outside of Northern Ireland since he arrived in Oakville.

“We play for so much money around the world. Events kind of lose their identity,” he said, adding that doesn’t happen when the prize is a national title.

“When you come to a phenomenal event like the Canadian Open — I feel the same way about the Irish Open — we’re very passionate as home, national players,” he said.

“I’ve been very lucky in my career to win a lot of national opens. I won the Scottish Open, the Welsh Open, the French Open a few weeks ago. National championships are very, very special and we should never forget that,” said McDowell

Ernie Els doesn’t. A year ago, he arrived at Hamilton Golf and Country Club immediately after winning the British Open.

“Yeah, it’s always great to play a national open. If you don’t play a major, your own national open feels like the next major, like if we play in South Africa in the South African Open. It’s regarded really highly,” he said.

“In any particular national open, there is some kind of national pride from the spectator point of view, from the people actually running the tournament and so forth. You try to respect the way they look at their tournament and then, you try to compete,” added Els.

“It’s always great. These national opens always bring out a nice story. You’ll see this week. One of the Canadian guys, maybe the mainstream media hasn’t heard from, will probably play well and he’ll probably be right there until Sunday,” said Els.

“Those are the nice stories that normally come out of these national open events that we play around the world and all of them are like that. You play the Italian Open or the Scottish, some kind of nice story comes out of it,” he said.

Of course, Canadians don’t have to look too far back for one of those stories. In 2011 at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in Vancouver, Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., hung in until the very end before tying for fourth.

For years, the focus has been on Mike Weir and Stephen Ames, but lately Graham DeLaet and David Hearn have been fueling the hopes of Canadian fans. The Canadian contingent is comprised of 18 players this year.

ICING ON THE CAKE

Graham DeLaet and David Hearn have added incentive to become the first home boy since Pat Fletcher in 1954 to win the Canadian Open this week.

A victory would also catapult any Canadian into next week’s Bridgestone Invitational, a World Golf Championships event, although a second-place finish could conceivably get DeLaet into the top 50 in the world rankings, which would get him in next week.

DeLaet is currently ranked 67th in the world, but he’s 41st in PGA points, which will get him into the PGA Championship, but Hearn is close to the bubble in 73rd place. The top 70 on get into the final major of the year at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y. in a couple of weeks.

The PGA points are calculated based on money earned in PGA Tour events between last year’s Bridgestone Invitational and this year’s Canadian Open, which means if Hearn is to get in, he has to do it this week.

A victory this week would also vault Hearn up the International team standings for the Presidents Cup, on which he currently stands 31st. DeLaet is in a more enviable position in 13th.

“My ambitions are very high, I can guarantee that,” said DeLaet.

“We had a Presidents Cup meeting with Nick Price this year with potential members of the team,” he recalled.

“Some of the players poured their hearts out, just telling how much it meant for them to play on that team and what it would mean to win. I was just getting goosebumps in that room, sitting with some of the best players in the world,” he said.

Prestige and passion associated with events not lost on golf stars

Graeme McDowell won $1.35 million for his efforts at Pebble Beach three years ago, where his career was considerably enhanced by a U.S. Open victory. But in a cynical era, he says all is not financial when playing a national championship such as the one starting at Glen Abbey.

“I think you’re just actually aware of kind of the prestige of this event, kind of hearing whispers of how this event used to be viewed back in the ’70s and ’80s,” said McDowell as he put the finishing touches on preparations for the RBC Canadian Open.

“I heard guys say this was viewed as a fifth major by the guys back in the day. It’s amazing,” said McDowell, adding that he’s never met more of his countrymen outside of Northern Ireland since he arrived in Oakville.

“We play for so much money around the world. Events kind of lose their identity,” he said, adding that doesn’t happen when the prize is a national title.

Brad Fritsch could lament about what might have made a difference after missing the FedEx Cup playoffs and not maintaining full-time status on the PGA Tour after missing the cut at the just-concluded Wyndham Championship.